Apparatus for attaching pronged elements



Jan. 7, 1969 E. A. SCHMIDT APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING PRONGED ELEMENTS Fi'led Sept. 26. 1966 Sheet ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 7, 1969 E. A. SCHMIDT APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING PRONGED ELEMENTS Filed Sept. 26. 1966 Sheet IIIIIIII United States Patent O 3,420,427 APPARATUS FOR ATTA'CHING PRONGED ELEMENTS Erich A. Schmidt, Lexington, Ky., assignor of one-half to Universal Button Company, Division of Talon, Inc.,

Lawrenceburg, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Sept. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 582,085

US. Cl. 2271l6 Int. Cl. 1525c /10 This invention relates to apparatus for attaching pronged elements to a flexible material, and, more particularly, to apparatus for attaching an improved pronged eye element to a garment.

It has been the practice to join two parts of a garment together by means of a cooperable hook and eye combination. Generally, the structure of the eye element has been limited to a bridging element, at the opposite ends of which there is located a pronged member positioned transversely thereto and adapted to pierce the garment material. Once inserted through the material the pronged members can then be bent inwardly about a back-up plate to clinch the eye to the material. It has been desirable to use an improved eye element having curved portions at each end of the bridging member with the prongs formed integrally of the curved portions resulting in the prongs being spaced inwardly of the remote ends of the bridging member. The application of such an eye element to the garment material has been difficult because the curved portions have a tendency to be flattened when the attaching apparatus applies the eye element to the garment material causing the pronged elements to strike the anvil and be bent inwardly for the clinching operation. It is to apparatus for attaching this improved eye element to a garment material that this invention is directed.

It is the general object of this invention to provide apparatus for attaching an improved eye element to garment material.

Another object of this invention is to provide apparatus for fully supporting an improved eye element while it is being attached to a garment material so that it will not be deformed.

Still another object of this invention is to provide apparatus for receiving and retaining an improved eye element in the plunger of an attaching machine.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention can be had by referring to the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of the .attaching equipment which incorporates the apparatus of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the improved 14 Claims eye member that will be used in the apparatus of this invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of the plunger head apparatus of this invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of the eye carrier apparatus of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view, partly in cross section, showing the initial position of the plunger apparatus and the eye carrier apparatus, with an eye member in place;

FIGS. 6 thru 9 are plan views, partially in cross section, of the eye carrier apparatus progressively feeding an eye to the plunger apparatus; and,

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIGS. 6 through 9 showing the eye carrier apparatus retracting away from the plunger apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown attaching equip ment which is similar in operation and construction to the machine illustrated and described in US. Patent No.

3,420,427 Patented Jan. 7, 1969 3,065,470. The machine shown includes a horizontal base 10 containing an anvil 12 directly over which is an air cylinder 14 containing a piston (not shown). The base of the piston includes a plunger 15 which is adapted to move with a reciprocal motion along a vertical axis in response to actuation of the piston in air cylinder 14 of the attaching apparatus. A guideway or raceway 18 carries a plurality of oriented eyes 20 to the exit end 22 where a carrier apparatus 24, supported on an arm 26, is actuated by the mechanism of the attaching equipment so as to move in an oscillating path and remove and carry the lowermost eye 20 from raceway 18. Carrier apparatus 24 then transports the eye 20 to a point beneath plunger 15, where it is transferred to apparatus 16, after which carrier apparatus 24 is retracted prior to the next operating cycle. Once eye 20 is received by plunger apparatus 16 and carrier apparatus 24 has cleared the area thereunder, plunger 15 and plunger apparatus 16 are then free to move downwardly and attach eye 20 to a garment material (not shown) and the prongs 38 of eye 20 are bent over by anvil 12 and clinched to a back up plate (not shown). Thus, an eye 20 is secured to the garment material after which the operator removes the completed garment and inserts the next garment and then is ready to recycle the attaching equipment.

In FIG. 2, there is shown the improved eye 20 which includes a flat bridging portion 32, at the opposite ends of which there is formed integral curved portions 34 providing a base portion 36 at each end of the eye. Base portions 36 partially underlie and are spaced from bridging portion 32. A pair of prongs 38 are located at the ends of each of the base portions 36 and are positioned to extend downwardly and substantially transverse to bridging portion 32. Attaching equipment, such as is shown in FIG. 1, when used for attaching this type of eye to a garment material, generally collapses or flattens curved portions 34, whereby eye 20 then becomes inope-rative.

Plunger apparatus 16 of this invention, which is carried by plunger 15 of the attaching equipment, is best shown in FIG. 3. A blade-like center plate 40 having a width substantially equal to the width of eye member 20, is integrally formed at the lower end of an enlarged base member 42 and extends downwardly therefrom. Base member 42 is adapted to be releasably secured, by any suitable retainer mechanism, to plunger 15 for reciprocal movement therewith. A slot 44 extends transversely across the lower surface of base 42, to one side of and parallel to the plane of plate 40. A pair of offset threaded holes 46 (only one of which is shown) are lo cated in the opposite faces of plate 40. An inverted T-shaped cut-out 48, forming a shoulder 50 in each of the opposed upper corners thereof and extending from the front to the back of plate 40, is centrally located at the bottom of plate 40 to define downwardly depending leg members 52 and 54 on each side thereof.

A back plate 56, which includes a centrally disposed cut-out 58 at the lower end thereof, has a pair of wedge shaped supports 60 located at the lower ends of legs 62 and 64, respectively, formed on each side of cut-out 58. Cut-out 58 of plate 56 has substantially the same height to it as does cut-out 48 of plate 40. Supports 60 extend towards center plate 40 so that when back plate 56 is rigidly fastened to plate 40 by screw 66, passing through aperture 67 and threadedly received in hole 46 (not shown) supports 60 will each project into cut-out 48 at a point directly beneath the respective shoulder 50 on plate 40. When in position, supports 60 are spaced from the sidewalls of legs 52 and 54 and the lower surfaces of shoulders 50 a distance such that curved portions 34 of eye 20 can be accommodated therein. The lower surfaces 61 of supports 60 are smoothly curved to present a cammed surface.

A spring plate 70 includes a cut-out 72 at the lower end thereof, which has a height less than the height of cut-outs 48 or 58 whereby that portion immediately above cut-out 72 projects below cut-outs 48 and 58 when plate 70 is operatively joined to plates 40 and 56, as will be further described hereinbelow. A pair of wedge shaped supports 74 are located at the lower ends of legs 76 and 78, respectively, which in turn are located on opposite sides of cutout 72. The tips of supports 74 extend toward center plate 40 so that when spring plate 70 is in operative position, supports 74 are located within cut-out 48 and extend partly beneath shoulders 50 of center plate 40 and substantially in alignment with supports 60 of back plate 56. An aperture 79 is centrally located in plate 70, substantially in alignment with threaded hole 46 on center plate 40, when plate 70 is in its operative position wherein its upper edge abuts against the lower surface of base 42 intermediate slot 44 and center plate 40.

An arcuately curved leaf spring member '80, having a straight edge 81 extending along its top edge adapted to be closely received within slot 44, has an aperture 82 at its lower end. A screw 84, having an enlarged head 86, is passed through aperture 82 of spring member 80, aperture 79 of plate 70 and threadedly received in aperture 46 of center plate 40. By means of this construction spring plate 70 is biased into pivotal engagement with center plate 40 by spring member 80.

The construction of the eye carrier apparatus 24, as shown in FIG. 1, is more fully disclosed in FIG. 4 and includes a carrier member 90 having a truncated nose 92. A wedge shape cut-out 94 having an inclined surface 95, is located on the top surface of member 90, to the rear of nose 92. An elongated carrier tongue 96 is secured to the fiat upper surface of carrier member 90 by means of screws 97 and is positioned thereon such that the surfaces of the wedge shaped cut-out 94 of carrier member 90 underlie the forwardly projecting tip 99 of tongue 96. The lower surface of tongue 96 is spaced above the upper surface of nose 92 and inclined surface 95 of cut-out 94, a distance which is greater than the thickness of the material from which eye 20 is formed, so that eye 20 can readily be inserted thereunder. A carrier leaf spring 98 is secured to the bottom surface of carrier member 90, by any suitable means such as spot welding. The tip of carrier spring 98 engages the head of a movable pin 100 in a manner to constantly urge pin 100 into the vertically positioned hole 102 located in carrier member 90, the upper aperture of which is located substantially in the center of surface 95 of wedged shaped cut-out 94. The nose 106 of pin 100 will project from this upper aperture towards carrier tongue 96 but the enlarged head of pin 100 limits the movement of pin 100 therein such that nose 106 of pin 100 will be spaced closely adjacent to the bottom surface of carrier tongue 96 but will normally contact this surface.

The mode of operation of the apparatus can best be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 through wherein a plurality of eye elements are guided by raceway 18 to its exit end 22 where carrier apparatus 24 picks up and removes the lowermost eye element 20 from raceway 18. As shown in FIG. 5, eye element 20 is rec'eived in carrier apparatus 24 in a manner such that prongs 38 straddle carrier member 90 with the upper surface of bridging portion 32 located in engagement with the lower surface of carrier tongue 96 and the rear edge of bridging portion 32 abutting against the rear wall of wedge shaped cut-out 94. In being received within carrier apparatus 24, the lower surface of bridging portion 32 slidably engages nose 106 of pin 100 and depresses pin 100 against the relatively small biasing force of carrier leaf spring 98. Once eye element 20 is at its rear- -most position, nose 106 of pin 100 engages and exerts a biasing force on bridging portion 32 of eye element 20 to maintain the same substantially in the position, as shown in FIG. 5.

As best shown in FIG. 6, carrier apparatus 24 approaches the lower end of plunger apparatus 16 substantially in the direction as indicated by the arrow F. Carrier tongue 96 moves through cut-out 58 intermediate wedge shaped supports 60 of back plate 56. The upper portion of nose 92 of carrier apparatus 24 passes intermediate supports 60 of back plate 56 and will pass intermediate supports 74 of spring plate 70. However, as shown in FIG. 7, the lower cam surfaces 61 of supports 60 will interfere with the passage of eye 20 and will engage those portions of bridging member 32 overlying base portions 36 to depress the forward edge thereof and cam eye element 20 in a counterclockwise direction. In so doing, eye member 20 overrides the biasing force of leaf spring 98 and pin 100 is moved downwardly, although nose 106 is in engagement with the underside of bridging portion 32. The forward edge of bridging portion 32 is moved towards and engages inclined surface 0f recess 94.

Further movement of carrier apparatus 24, as shown in FIG. 8, now takes place in a substantially horizontal direction as indicated by the arrow F such that eye 20 revolves in a clockwise direction, about the forward edge of bridging portion 32, resting on surface 95, until eye 20 is in it normal upright position. Pin is further depressed but retains bridging portion 32 in a substantially horizontal position. The tip 99 of tongue 96 is located adjacent to that portion of spring plate 70 immediately above cut-out 72.

Advancement of carrier apparatus 24, as shown in FIG. 9, now takes place substantially in the direction of the arrow F. Tongue 96 moves into engagement with spring plate 70 and pivots the same in a clockwise direction against the biasing force of spring 80. In so doing surfaces 61 of back plate 56 acting on the upper surface of bridging portion 32 depress eye 20 onto surface 95 while simultaneously rotating eye 20 in a clockwise direction. The forward edge of bridging portion 32 will now engage the lower surface of tongue 96 with the end portions of eye 20 enclosed by portions 34 located substantially in alignment with the now withdrawn supports 74 of spring plate 70. Carrier apparatus 24 is then advanced an additional distance with tongue 96 further pivoting spring plate 70 until the rear edge of bridging portion 32 moves over the tip of supports 64. Pin 100, under the force of leaf spring 98, quickly moves eye element 20 in a counterclockwise direction about the forward edge of bridging portion 32 and forces the upper surface of bridging portion 32 of eye element 20 into engagement with the lower surface of tongue 96.

Upon retraction of carrier apparatus 24 in the direction R, as shown in FIG. 10, spring plate 70, the supports 74 of which are in place in the space between base plate 36 and bridging portion 32, is biased by spring 80 to move eye element 20 in the same direction as carrier apparatus 24. However, movement of eye element 20 in this direction is limited by the engagement of supports 64 on back plate 56 with the space at the rear of eye 20 between bridging portion 32 and base portion 36. Further retraction of carrier apparatus 24 clears the apparatus from under plunger 15, shown in FIG. 1, which plunger now carries eye element 20.

Once carrier apparatus 24 is retracted from under plunger 15, it is in position to be moved downwardly to attach eye element 20 to 'a garment material. It should be specifically noted that the two pairs of supports 74 and 64 of spring plate '70 and back plate 56, respectively, are now wedged under bridging portion 32 and base portion 36, and substantially directly over the pair of prongs 38, with the upper surface of curved portions 34 and bridging portion 32 in engagement with shoulders 50 on back plate 56, so that upon attachment of eye element 20 to a garment material the curved portions 34 will not collapse.

It should also be noted that carrier member 24 could be designed to feed eye elements 20 from the side or 90 from its present disclosed movement. The plunger apparatus 16 including spring plate 70 and back plate 56 could be cammed open by the movement of eye element 20 therebetween, and eye element 20 positioned and retained in plunger 16 in substantially the same manner. 1

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to one embodiment of the invention, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected with the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinabove and as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment, said eye element having a bridging portion curved at its opposite ends to form thereat a base portion underlying the ends of the bridging portion and spaced therefrom, with each of said base portions including a downwardly depending prong member, the combination comprising:

transport means movable in a substantially reciprocal path for moving an individual eye element from a supply to the bottom of a plunger on the attaching equipment;

means carried by said plunger normally in a closed position for engaging that spaced portion of said eye element located intermediate said bridging member and said base portion,

said means moved first to an open position upon movement of said transport means to the remote end of said reciprocal path for receiving said eye element on said plunger, and then to its normally closed position upon retraction of said transport means for retaining said eye element on said plunger.

2. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 1 wherein said means carried by said plunger includes a stationary assembly and a biased spring plate normally urged towards the closed position with said stationary assembly.

3. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 2 wherein said stationary assembly includes a center plate, and a back plate disposed to one side thereof which is opposite to the side on which said spring plate is located.

4. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 3 wherein said back plate and said spring plate each include support members which are adapted to enter from opposite sides that spaced portion of said eye element located intermediate said bridging member and said base portion to retain said eye element in operative position beneath said center plate on said plunger.

5. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 2 wherein said transport means includes means for first engaging said spring plate to bias said spring plate a further distance away from said stationary assembly to receive said bridging portion of said eye element.

6. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 5 wherein said means first engaging said spring plate is an elongated tongue member.

7. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 6 wherein said transport means includes a resiliently mounted second means for receiving and positioning an eye element on said transport means with the upper surface of said bridging portion in engagement with the lower surface of said tongue member.

8. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 7 wherein said second means is a spring biased pin, the nose of which engages the lower surface of said bridging portion of said eye element.

9. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 4 wherein said transport means includes a second means for pivotally carrying said eye element, continued movement in said reciprocal path of said transport means towards said plunger first engaging said supports on said back plate to rotatably pivot said eye element in a given direction about said second means, and, as said second means carried by said transport means moves beyond said supports of said back plate, reversing the direction of pivotal movement of said eye element about said second means so as to move the spaced portions of said eye element located intermediate said bridging member and said base portion into engagement with the supports of said spring plate.

10. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 9 wherein said transport means includes an elongated tongue member for engaging said spring plate and against the bottom surface of which said bridging portion of said eye element is normally urged into contact by said second means.

11. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 10 wherein continued movement of said transport means moves said eye ele ment beyond said support means of said back plate and said second means moves the upper surface of said bridging portion into engagement with the lower surface of said tongue member, said support means of said back plate entering the spaced portion of said eye element located intermediate said bridging member and said base portion upon retraction of said transport means, with said spring plate urged by resilient means to move said eye element into engagement therewith.

12. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 10 which includes a leaf spring located behind said spring plate, one end of which is secured to said center plate, said leaf spring providing a biasing force to maintain said spring plate in its normally closed position.

13. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 11 wherein said center plate includes a pair of spaced apart shoulders for supporting that upper surface area of the bridging portion which overlies said base portion.

14. Apparatus for use in attaching an eye element to a garment according to claim 13 wherein said shoulders engage the upper surface area of said bridging portion which overlies said base portion and said support means of said back plate and said spring plate, respectively, enter the spaced portion of said eye element located intermediate said bridging member and said base portion of said eye element, whereby said eye element can readily be carried by said plunger.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 990,405 4/ 1911 Stimpson 227-18 1,184,073 5/1916 Choate 22718 1,855,235 4/1932 Havener 227-18 2,878,954 3/1959 Traske 227-l l9 XR 2,939,145 6/1960 Lundeberg 227l8 3,065,470 1 1/ 1962 Schmidt 2271 15 GRANVILLE Y. CUSTER, JR., Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 227-l8 

1. APPARATUS FOR USE IN ATTACHING AN EYE ELEMENT TO A GARMENT, SAID EYE ELEMENT HAVING A BRIDGING PORTION CURVED AT ITS OPPOSITE ENDS TO FORM THEREAT A BASE PORTION UNDERLYING THE ENDS OF THE BRIDGING PORTION AND SPACED THEREFROM, WITH EACH OF SAID BASE PORTIONS INCLUDING A DOWNWARDLY DEPENDING PRONG MEMBER, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING: TRANSPORT MEANS MOVABLE IN A SUBSTANTIALLY RECIPROCAL PATH FOR MOVING AN INDIVIDUAL EYE ELEMENT FROM A SUPPLY TO THE BOTTOM OF A PLUNGER ON THE ATTACHING EQUIPMENT; 